Chapter 5
In this chapter Lennie meets Curley's wife in the barn, and accidently ends her life... Summary After accidentally killing his beloved puppy, Lennie sinks into a state of dismay in which he is angry at both himself and the deceased puppy. After a futile attempt to hide it, the puppy is uncovered by Curley's wife who, despite Lennie's warnings about not being allowed to talk to her, walked into the barn and dug it up from the hay it was buried under. She is bored as all the men are playing horseshoes and decides to talk to Lennie in order to pass the time. Eventually Lennie gives in and they have a normal conversation about their past and future but it gets out of hand when a talk of Lennie's love of touching soft things leads to him stroking her hair which is apparently 'like velvet'. This leads to him petting too hard as always and her efforts to make him let go cause him to grab on to it, screaming for help caused Lennie to cover her mouth and lift her off the ground; when she refuses to stop screaming he shakes her and this leads to her neck getting broken. After some hesitation he realises how terrible what he has done is and thinks George may no longer let him care for the rabbits in their future home. This realisation causes him to run back to where he was told to go if he does a bad thing. Candy soon finds the body in the barn and he tells George. They know it was Lennie and concuct a plan of action based around whether or not they should tell the others or not. Candy seems more worried about their future without Lennie whereas George is worried for himself and Lennie's immediate future. Eventually they decide to tell the others but George pretends he never saw the body so he can avoid suspicion. When they find out about it, Lennie is immediately the subject of suspicion and they decide to hunt him down. Some of them want him imprisoned and others (Curley and Carlson among them) want him shot. George sends them in the wrong direction to hunt for him after unsuccessfully reasoning with them but is asked to go along with them if he wants to remain thought of as uninvolved with the murder. Characters Lennie once again appears more aggressive than he previously was in this chapter as he not only gets angry at the puppy which he killed for dying too easily but even Curley's wife for the same reason. Repeatedly he threatens her in an attempt to make her quiet and he even realises that he would purposefully hurt her as revealed when he says "I don't want to hurt you" which reveals that he would hurt her if forced. Of course, he still has the mind of a child and gets very scared after both these killings that George will be angry with him despite seemingly feeling no empathy towards them. For the third time (the first being with George in the barn and the second being when she intruded on Crooks and his company), Curley's wife is annoyingly persistant and manages to get on the wrong side of Lennie. She eventually manages to win his favour and they have a friendly conversation after some gentle persuasion from her side but she soon suffers at his hands because she doesn't listen to his pleas for her to calm down. This chapter seems to be all about lack of empathy as Candy also feels nothing but anger towards Curley's wife for dying as she may have ruined his dream of a home with George. He also does not seem to care much about Lennie potentially suffering horribly at the hands of Curley but rather is more concerned that George may give up on the plans for their future. George is a beacon of hope in this cruel world and he thinks almost entirely of Lennie after finding out about her death. Little thought is given to Curley's wife by George but he is extremely worried for Lennie and does everything possible to save him though he is unsuccessful. Curley and the other farmhands all see Lennie as no more than a murderer who should be punished through being shot or imprisoned except for Slim who feels bad for Lennie though he does not go out of his way to try and stop Curley's enraged rampage. Setting It may have been thought reading other chapters that the barn was very small but it is revealed here to house horses, dogs and enough room for Lennie to attempt to avoid Curley's wife. It could be assumed that the barn is a fairly central location as the men decide to play horseshoes very close to it and there is no reason for them to unless it is a short walk from the bunkhouse. Lennie also manages to run to the 'safe area' by the pool fairly quickly which means that he and Lennie stayed there for no reason other than laziness in the first chapter as the ranch must have been nearby. Themes and Writing Style There are many themes which come to the surface during this contrasting and interesting Chapter. Firstly, a theme of violence and death come forth, becoming more obvious to the reader. Death is not made a massive deal, however, as when Curley's wife dies, all that is said is "... her body flopped like a fish. And then she was still, for Lennie had broken her neck." This could show that ranchers are so lonely, that even death does not reach them in an emotionless world that they live in. Alternatively, the death could be undescribed because Steinbeck wished to emphasize Lenny's feelings and actions, in which case it is quite an effective technique, drawing lots of attention to this area. Another, contrasting theme, is disappointment. After Curly's wife is killed, George tells Candy that their dream is over. This is a very different theme to the rest of the story, which is very positive, suggesting that the ending will be happy and they will all achieve the "American Dream." A final theme is that of friendship, which still remains even though Lenny has committed a crime. This is shown through the fact that George nor Candy want Lenny to be punished harshly "Maybe they'll lock 'im up an' be nice to 'im". This further shows that when other hope does not remain, friendship is a theme which remains even through the harsh circumstances which have happened. Steinbeck's writing style is shown strongly in this chapter, with all characters' feelings shown through speech or through actions.This is a very powerful way to convey emotions as it puts distance between the writer and the characters, so it does not feel like the author is forcing feeling up you ( or the characters) rather that they are feeling the emotions themselves. Conclusion and Final Comment To conclude, this chapter further begins to reveal anger ( of Lenny) and death of other people. It shows the hopes and dreams of George, Lenny and Candy, being crushed by one stupid act. This leads on to the next chapter as at the end of the chapter, Candy is preparing to tell the others that Curly's wife has been killed as he lies in the hay.